Name
Your chance to rule: which rules would you implement in your school?
Topic
Rules and Freedom
Learning time
4 hours
Designed time
7 hours
Size of class
24
Description
Your chance to rule: which rules would you implement in your school? During this session students will work on rules in school and in classroom. They'll have to know which rules are implemented in school and work together to suggest changes, if they think it's worth. They should work on balance between freedom and rules, looking at examples from other democratic schools all over Europe.
Aims
The aim of this project is to focus on the idea of rules and their importance in social contexts such as schools and/or communities. Students should get consciousness of their right to know, understand and propose rules in contexts where they live and act every day. They could implement a set of shared rules for their classroom and establish how to implement them.
Outcomes
Find out/discover, Illustrate, Give arguments for and against, Show awareness of
Editor
luigi.grifone
Edit
Building up the groups
60 minutes)
  • Read Watch Listen
    15
    0
    Using TeamUp, students are divided into groups of four. The division is decided by the teacher and it is based on their different learning approaches and language skills. Groups should be well assorted and mixed. The teacher explains that they're going to start a Project based on collaboration and critical thinking and prepares students to do this with the next activity.
  • Collaborate
    30
    0
    As a team building activity the teacher introduces the game "A Truth and A Lie": each member has to introduce himself/herself by stating his/her name plus one truth about themselves and one lie. After this, there's a quick open conversation where everyone questions each other on their two statements. The idea is to convince the other members that your lie is actually a truth, while guessing the truths/lies of the others. After the questioning period, vote as a group on each member’s statements. Points are awarded for each lie guessed right or for stumping other members on your own lie. During the activity the teacher walks around to check if students need help or explanations.
  • Discuss
    15
    0
    Students discuss about the previous activity, finding out what was easy/difficult and providing feedback to the whole classroom. They should focus on what they felt while they were involved in the collaborative activity. First they do it with their team mates, then the spokespersons provide the most interesting aspects emerged by the discussions.
Notes:
Resources linked: 0
The Driving Question
120 minutes)
  • Discuss
    15
    24
    0
    The teacher introduces the Driving Question and starts a brainstorming about rules and freedom
  • Collaborate
    20
    4
    0
    In groups, students have to talk about school rules and classroom rules, outlining how they feel about them, if they have power of decision, if they would change something, what they would change.
  • Investigate
    35
    4
    0
    Every group has to investigate about their own school rules. Students work on it, looking for good/bad rules and writing down three good rules and three rules they would change.
  • Read Watch Listen
    5
    24
    0
    Formative Assessment: The teacher assesses students understanding of the topic through a designated "Hand Signal" (thumbs up/down, wave hand)
  • Discuss
    15
    24
    0
    Students discuss what they did before during their investigation and the teacher writes out their contributions on a large piece of paper.
  • Produce
    30
    4
    0
    Again in groups, students should realize a text about rules: "Are rules necessary? Do we need rules in our classroom, school, city? Why?"
Notes:
Resources linked: 0
Are we free?
60 minutes)
  • Discuss
    15
    24
    0
    Every group reads to the others the text produced in the previous activity.
  • Read Watch Listen
    20
    24
    0
    The teacher provides different resources (texts, videos) about management of rules in democratic schools, such as Summerhill - Uk, so that students can get an idea of what they would do: are they ready to play their chance to change the rules?
  • Discuss
    5
    24
    0
    Formative Assessment: The teacher uses Oral Questioning to check what students get from the given resources.
  • Collaborate
    20
    4
    0
    Every team works on the ideas got from the analyzed resources: they're free to choose some resources and analyze them, starting from these questions: "How do you feel about it? Would you like to be more active in your school?
Notes:
Resources linked: 0
Reflecting on the Project
60 minutes)
  • Read Watch Listen
    10
    24
    0
    The teacher explains that students will have the chance to reflect on the project they're doing, how they feel about it and how they're working in team.
  • Investigate
    15
    4
    0
    Students are invited to reflect again on the Driving Question: do they have other questions linked with it? Would they like to pursue other questions?
  • Collaborate
    20
    4
    0
    The teacher provides a simple survey about cooperative activities and students are invited to work on it individually, after they discussed it together.
  • Discuss
    15
    24
    0
    All the groups present their thought to the entire classroom, underlining positive and negative aspects of this project and of team working.
Notes:
Resources linked: 0
Our chance to rule
60 minutes)
  • Read Watch Listen
    10
    24
    0
    The teacher introduces the activity leading to the final product: every team should provide a text/presentation/video about different aspects dealing with classroom/school rules (behaviour, time, spaces, etc.)
  • Produce
    30
    4
    0
    Every team produces a text/presentation/video concerning new classroom rules and why they should be implemented
  • Discuss
    15
    4
    0
    Every team gets the work of another team and it's invited to discuss it and give a short feedback to the other team.
  • Produce
    5
    24
    0
    Formative Assessment: The teacher provides students with an Exit Card to check what they've learnt during the lesson
Notes:
Resources linked: 0
Evaluation
60 minutes)
  • Read Watch Listen
    15
    24
    0
    The teacher presents a Rubric to give students the opportunity to make a self-assessment
  • Practice
    30
    4
    0
    Groups of students have to present in 5 minutes their set of rules to the school director and other teachers, explaining their choices and, if they feel like, asking for changements.
  • Discuss
    10
    24
    0
    Final discussion about the whole project, feedback by teacher and by the groups.
  • Produce
    5
    24
    0
    Summative Assessment: "3-2-1" assessment (students can fill it at home and give it back to the teacher): a text composed of 3 things they found out about this project, 2 interesting things, 1 question they still have.
Notes:
The feedback given by the school director and other teachers can be an important part of the project, since the students can feel that their research and work has an impact on the school community.
Resources linked: 0

Learning Experience

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